Iberdrola in Germany

Wikinger is Iberdrola’s first offshore wind project in Germany and follows the successful construction and commissioning of our first offshore windfarm in 2014 - West of Duddon Sands in the Irish Sea.

After a decade-long presence in Germany, the construction and operation of Wikinger Offshore Windfarm ensures we will continue to be present in the German market for decades to come.

The Project

Wikinger Offshore Windfarm is a technically challenging project with difficult sea-bed conditions and deep waters. As energy pioneers, we are ready for the challenge.

Located in the Baltic Sea, approximately 75 km from the mainland close to the Island of Rügen, Wikinger is in the northern part of an area known as Westlich Adlergrund that the German authorities have designated as a Priority Offshore Development Area.

The site covers 34 km² and will host 70 Adwen AD5-135 wind turbines, generating up to 350 megawatts. At 5 megawatts, these are the largest turbines ever to be installed on an Iberdrola project.

The design and construction of the Offshore Sub Station is being led as an in-house project jointly with Iberdrola Engineering and Construction.

History

In 2010, Iberdrola took control on the consented Wikinger Offshore Windfarm (formerly Offshore Wind Park Ventotec Ost II).

Initial approval for this project was granted for floating turbine bases, a technology still under development. Iberdrola undertook a detailed 12 month environmental impact assessment and in August 2011, re-submitted the project for approval with fixed foundations, better suited to the conditions of the Baltic Sea.

To refine the new foundation design a large volume of detailed work was undertaken including geological seabed surveys, stratigraphic samples of sedimentary and metamorphic rock and seismic surveys of the seabed terrain. An innovative first-of-its-kind pile-testing campaign was then conducted to assess the chosen foundation design, involving static and dynamic pressure testing on offshore structures over several weeks.

Once a wind turbine supplier was secured and the project’s programme was matured, an agreement to utilise the Offshore Terminal South at the Port of Sassnitz was signed. At this facility, approximately 100,000 m² of space has been secured for warehousing, assembly, storage and transportation of components to the offshore site. Key activities to be hosted in the port include load-in from transport vessels, storage and load-out to installation vessels of the main components of the wind farm, such as foundations, piles, jackets, wind turbines and cable.

Following the signature of the main supply contracts, fabrication of the major components is now underway with formal offshore installation works due to commence in 2016.

Sharing the Benefits

At €1.4 bn, Wikinger Offshore Windfarm is one of the Iberdrola Group’s single largest investment projects this decade, and is anticipated to create benefit across the entire supply chain, in addition to supporting hundreds of long-term highly skilled jobs – and it is already doing so.

More than 100 contracts have been signed, and from these German, British and Spanish companies (amongst other nationalities) have been involved in the tender processes. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, local companies have already been engaged as suppliers and contractors.

In October 2015, we hosted a Supplier Day event at the Landesvertretung Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Berlin to introduce local companies experienced in offshore wind with our main contractors; Adwen, Navantia, Offshore WindForce and Prysmian.

Christian Pegel, Minister for Energy, Infrastructure and Regional Development for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the local Chamber of Commerce and the German Wind Energy Network supported this event and we were pleased to see more than 100 companies engage directly with our contractors to explore possible collaboration opportunities.

The main packages of work include:

• Offshore Sub Station – Navantia
• Wind turbine foundations – Navantia WINDAR Joint Venture and Bladt Industries
• Inter-array cables – Prysmian
• Wind turbines – Adwen
• Offshore installation – Offshore Wind Force / SHL

During construction, the project is expected to support skilled, mainly local jobs with further skilled local positions to be maintained during at least 20 years of operation.

View further information about the fabrication progress is available here.